Helpless (Korean Movie)

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Movie: Helpless (International English title)
Revised romanization: Hwacha
Hangul: 화차
Director: Byun Young-Joo
Writer: Miyuki Miyabe (novel), Byun Young-Joo
Producer: Shin Hye-Eun
Cinematographer: Kim Dong-Young
Release Date: March 8, 2012
Runtime: 117 min.
Distributor: CJ E&M
Genre: Mystery
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot

A woman suddenly disappears. Her fiance then sets out to find her and, in the process, uncovers layers of dark hidden secrets.

One month prior to Moon-Ho (Lee Sun-Kyun) and Sun-Young's (Kim Min-Hee) wedding, they take a road trip to Andong. Moon-Ho plans to formally introduce his fiance to his parents. Along the way to Andong, they pull over at a highway rest stop. Moon-Ho goes inside, while Sun-Young waits in the car. When Moon-Ho arrives back at his car, he discovers that his fiance has now completely disappeared. Frantic, Moon-Ho looks all over the rest stop and then files a missing person report with the police. Moon-Ho then drives back to Seoul and goes to Sun-Young's small studio apartment. Inside her apartment, Moon-Ho discovers that her apartment has been completely emptied. Moon-Ho then receives a phone call.

The phone call is from a friend that explains that he called Sun-Young and asked about bankruptcy filing from her past. While he asked her about the bankruptcy, Sun-Young abruptly hung up the phone and has not answered her phone. Moon-Ho then goes to the legal office where Sun-Young filed the bankruptcy papers. He looks through her documents and spots a photo of the woman that filed the bankruptcy paper and it is not the Sun-Young that he knows. Moon-Ho is absolutely shocked and confused. Moon-Ho then looks up Sun-Young's work application and goes through her work references. He contacts the companies listed as her prior employers and discovers that she has never worked for those companies. Now with nowhere to turn and unable to get the police's help, because he doesn't even know who she really is, Moon-Ho turns to his cousin Jong-Geun (Jo Sung-Ha) for help. Jong-Geun is a former cop who lost his job due to taking bribes. Moon-Ho now pleads with his cousin to help him locate his fiance and find out who she really is ...

Notes

Based on the Japanese novel "Kasha" by author Miyuki Miyabe - first published in 1992 (novel was translated into English in 1999 and published under the title of "All She Was Worth") .
Filming took 3 months from July 8 -September 23, 2011. Filming locations took place in Seoul, Jinhae, Mashan, Changwon & Jecheon, South Korea.
Korean title Hwacha means literally "freight train bed" or "wagon".
Character poster featuring lead actress Kim Min-Hee and exposing her bare back was deemed too risque by the Korea Media Rating Board on February 8, 2012 and will not allowed to be used for the promotion of the film.
Movie opened #1 at the Korean box office selling 607,080 tickets on 547 screens during its March 9-11 opening weekend. For its second weekend of release, "Helpless" stayed #1 selling 561,323 tickets on 521 screens. In two weeks, "Helpless" sold 1,567,211 tickets.

Cast



Lee Sun-Kyun	Kim Min-Hee	Jo Sung-Ha
Jang Moon-Ho	Kang Sun-Young	Kim Jong-Geun



Song Ha-Yoon	Cha Soo-Yeon	Choi Deok-Mun	Lee Hee-Joon	Bae Min-Hee
Han-Na	Kang Sun-Young	Det. Ha Sung-Sik	Sun-Young's ex-husband	Client from veterinary clinic



Kim Tae-In	Kim Min-Jae	Im Ji-Kyu	Kim Sun-Guk	Yang Eun-Yong
Park Myung-Shin	Dong-Woo	stalker	Gi-Tae	Gi-Tae's wife

Additional Cast Members:

Choi Il-Hwa - Moon-Ho's father

Trailers

Image Gallery

Awards

Best Director - (Byun Young-Joo) 2012 (48th) PaekSang Arts Awards - April 26, 2012

Comments

Comment #1
Ki Says:
Mar 03 2012 9:10 am

Had the opportunity to watch mystery/suspense thriller HELPLESS starring Lee Sun-Gyun, Kim Min-Hee & Jo Sung-Ha. Movie is highly impressive! Unlike fellow movie HOWLING (also based on a Japanese novel), HELPLESS starts out dark and stays that way until the final scene. There's a whole lot of mystery & suspense as Lee Sun-Gyun's fiance disappears and he works to uncover the mystery behind her disappearance. It turns out everything he knew about her where lies. Put this one down on your to see list. Movie is highly recommended!